Although it was evident that respondent businesses exhibited a number of common features, there was also heterogeneity because of the divergent circumstances and motivations associated with their establishment. The following analysis focuses on differences between proprietors who are keen to grow their business (growers) and those who are not (lifestylers). These two categories have been well documented in the relevant SME and SMTE literatures. To determine the applicable categories, respondents were asked to identify their main reason for establishing the enterprise. The distinction between the two groups was straightforward – it was based on how they responded to the question about whether they planned to grow their business over the subsequent 12-month period. The responses that are presented in Table 2 epitomize the differing agendas of the two groupings. The first five goals that are listed in the table are business oriented (e.g. increasing the number of customers and raising profitability), whereas goals six to ten have a lifestyle orientation (e.g. fulfilling a long-term dream of combining hobbies and skills). The final goal is not readily classifiable into either category. The differences between the ambitions and primary goals of the two respondent groupings are evident from the significant result that was obtained from conducting the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (D = 0.5455, sig = 0.047). Growers are in business for business reasons, whereas lifestylers have a more holistic focus on lifestyle and a lesser emphasis on business. These conclusions do not infer that lifestylers do not care about their business and its operations. As will be discussed later, although lifestylers are less driven by profit than their grower counterparts, many demonstrate a passionate commitment to tourism. As indicated in Table 2, the researchers investigated whether members of different industry associations exhibit distinct behaviours and attitudes. It was found that there are minimal differences between those who are involved in or hold memberships of tourism specific groupings and those who have a stronger orientation towards community service. Greater differences were evident between respondents who have a stronger orientation to commercially oriented groups (e.g. chambers of commerce) and those who do not participate in such organizations. As highlighted in bold, only two of the items that are reported in the table are significant. In the case of the three items represented in italics, the differences are insignificant, albeit substantial because the number of observations is relatively small. The data do, however, reveal that growers are more engaged within their business communities and have a more expansive and ambitious approach to business groupings. The lifestylers engage in more active participation with tourism-related organizations. The conduct of a MANOVA test found that in aggregate and as presented in Table 3, there were no significant differences between the types of information used. However, the conduct of an ANOVA identified significant differences between the two groups in terms of sales and marketing and business management information, with growers more active in their consumption of information aligned to these domains. This supports the view that growers are more focused than lifestylers on growing and building their businesses. If growers are more interested in developing their businesses, then it might be expected that they would be more satisfied with the information that they receive than lifestylers, particularly for the purposes of business development and commercial management. Table 4 details the MANOVAs that produced significant results applicable to the two groups for ‘satisfaction with information’ across the five types of information (F = 6.034, d.f. = 5, sig = 0.000). This finding confirmed that in aggregate, growers are more satisfied. The subsequent ANOVAs show that three of the five areas were significantly different, namely sales and marketing, business and financial management. The legal and regulatory and environment/sustainability areas were deemed as insufficiently relevant by either group to record high or even different levels of satisfaction. The results reported in Table 4 offer preliminary support for the view that SMTE proprietor motives influence their information-seeking behaviours and consumption of information. The two groupings evidently have different approaches to information. Intuitively, it seems probable that consumption will be positively related to satisfaction, since those who are happy with an information source will tend to prefer it and seek it out. According to the findings, growers both read more extensively and are significantly more satisfied than lifestylers. Respondents express increasing satisfaction as they consume more information. Although intuitively correct, one might have anticipated a more critical assessment to prevail beyond a certain point. As consumers progressively consume more information and consequently enhance their expertise and repertoire, one might expect their critical faculties to intensify. According to the data presented in Table 5, a positive correlation is evident between media consumption and satisfaction among both groups, and for the sample as a whole. However, the table also indicates that the correlations are consistently weaker for growers than for lifestylers. It appears that relative to the amount of information that is consumed, growers are less satisfied than lifestylers. Two plausible explanations are proposed. First, since growers are more ambitious than lifestylers, this may place greater demands on the information that they use. Second, because growers are more avid readers than lifestylers, they may develop a more critical eye and question the merits of the information that is provided. It is unsurprising that growers consume more media than lifestylers, especially in the case of business-related media. In aggregate, they are more positive about media, especially in the case of trade-related information. However, as noted previously, they become increasingly critical as their consumption of information increases. The results that are presented in Table 6 highlight the relationship between media used and its perceived usefulness across the two groups. Media consumption is evidently different across the two groups from the significant Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (D = 0.500, sig = 0.039). The t-tests of the means indicate significant differences between the perceived usefulness across the four media types: trade magazines, Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre studies, face-to-face meetings and podcasts. Growers are more positive than lifestylers in all cases except for podcasts. Finally, it is notable that a MANOVA about alternative training across the two groups was insignificant. An ANOVA conducted on the types of training indicated that lifestylers were more favourably disposed than growers to on-the-job approaches. This finding suggests that lifestylers may be more reluctant to leave their place of business to participate in training (perhaps because such activities may be viewed as interfering with lifestyle) whereas growers recognize the benefits of undertaking offsite training.